Needless and ‘inhuman’ killing - UUP

In a joint statement the UUP members said the group responsible carried out the cold and calculated attack in an attempt to discourage Catholics from joining the PSNI.

Extending their condolences to the Kerr family they urged people to come out in force to vote in the forthcoming elections in order to underline the anti-democratic nature of continuing republican violence.

“Many words will be used to describe those who committed this outrage but one will suffice to express the revulsion which the whole community, not just in Omagh, feels at this needless and inhuman act,” they stated.

“The young officer who was murdered was just a young man who chose to wear a police uniform in Northern Ireland and he was specifically targeted because he was seen as a Roman Catholic.

“The murderers were intent on killing a Roman Catholic Police Officer to discourage them from joining the Police Service of Northern Ireland. The Republican Terror Group who brought this untimely death to Omagh knew exactly what they were doing,” they continued.

“Our thoughts are with this police officer’s family and with the Police Service of Northern Ireland as they will have to come to terms with their loss.”

The statement went on to urge the electorate to come out and vote in numbers to “display once and for all to the people of violence that they have no place or role in a Northern Ireland which has embarked on and intends to stay on a democratic journey to real peace.”

“Today we have heard the words of a grieving mother who should never have been placed in the situation in which she finds herself and her family.

“As much as the death of much-loved son, her words are a challenge to the whole community to end the violence for good,” the concluded.